The the Hello and welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Henwood.

Convention continues it's not unwelcome rain with two guests today.

Stephen Simon will talk about Israel and the Arab States relations with it, and

Jennifer Berkshire will tell us about the right wing's latest educational ploys.

Before that, a word about a guest from last June, the New Orleans-based artist Marcus Brown. I interviewed him about about an augmented reality sculpture exhibit he just mounted at the corner of Wall and Water Streets.

The exhibit was part of a series he's been working on around the country called Slavery

Trails about an awful part of American history that a lot of people would rather forget.

The history of slavery in New York City is deep, ugly, and largely forgotten, at least in the public culture.

Marcus is trying to change that. He was in New York on Wednesday to observe Juneteenth at the site of his Wall Street installation. He was also in town to mark

the opening of two satellite installations, one at North Fifth Park in Pier in Brooklyn, and the other

at Queens Bridge Park in Queens. For more, his website at AR slavery trails.com.

I contacted Stephen Simon a research fellow at the Quincy Institute

because I was curious about some of the Arab

States relations with Israel, especially during the Gaza War. They seemed to have reached some

sort of accommodation, maybe even in the alliance, and I wanted to know more.

But we first got to talking about politics in the war-making state, Israel,

and the very gloomy prospects for a quick end to its pummeling of Gaza.

Aside from his work at Quincy, Stephen Simon is just coming off a visiting professorship at the University of

Washington.

In the past, he served on the National Security Council under both Clinton and Obama.

He is, in other words, a more establishment source than

your typical behind the news guest, but we seek knowledge from everywhere.

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